Television fraud: how to fool the audience of the main channels

Frame from TV shows, where it was confirmed about the discovery of dinosaur eggs near Volgograd (on the freeze frame — it is «they»).

— Our Center differs from the corresponding RAS Fee that parses and displays to clean water more primitive Scam, cloaked in the proud title of «scientist,» says the head of the Center Anna URMANTSEVA. — If you look, for example, with torsion fields only by academics, to understand that parapsychologists can’t treat people, maybe a first year student of the biology Department. We needed to recruit concerned students that the cases are sell people are multiplying, and one of the Commission to combat pseudoscience RAS not cope with them. They would fit to expose the most clever and well camouflaged scams.

The work of the new Centre is built on a collection of various disputed facts throughout the country. To participate in the work, namely, to send information to the website lgenauka.net that can be anyone. After students, they’re students of the scientific journalism, assort each case individually and through consultations real scientists disproves or proves a particular fact.

The three most striking cases of fake scientists, already identified by the Centre for the fight against pseudo-science at MSU:

1. From Samara received a message about the courses of a certain Damir Birstein, whose lectures are titled: «Scientific magic, or Your grandmother was in something right». During the performances, in particular this «wizard» authoritatively tells the audience that «all people are divided into carnivores and herbivores, and they don’t the fate to understand each other.»

2. Another «miracle» shared with his audience the Central channel, which had until recently the status of a highly cultured. There was shown a film about ancient giant humans, whose skeletons have been found recently in the Caucasus. Specialist Maria Mednikova Institute of archaeology RAS, to which the filmmakers asked for comment, said then that only talked about that in the Caucasus, as in other places of the Earth, met people, but not 3-4 meter, as was shown in the film. However, her words have been submitted, as a confirmation of pre-existing exactly three-meter phenomena.

3. Just a blatant transfer of pseudoscientific data was shown recently on Russian TV documentary about found near Volgograd metre dinosaur eggs. Psychics listened and squealed with fear, leading to frighten the audience with predictions that soon the beast will hatch and «wipe the city off the face of the Earth.» However, as explained in the Institute of paleontology of the RAS, such eggs at the dinosaurs, even the largest of them, has never been, they did not exceed the size of ostrich eggs. Also on the site of modern Volgograd in ancient times, overlooking the sea, which could be found only viviparous creature.